I was excited about this movie last year, around September, when I first saw the preview and anticipated a November 2003 release date. But once I found out it was looking for a new date and got pushed to April 2004 I knew something was up.
Oftentimes when a movie moves around the calendar you assume what once looked like a promising picture has turned to the wayside, and with Godsend it doesn’t take too long to see just why the delay occurred.
Godsend tells the story of the Duncans — Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Paul (Greg Kinnear) — and their son Adam (Cameron Bright) who is the victim of a horrible car accident and dies one day after his eighth birthday. Jessie and Paul are then confronted with an interesting proposal by Dr. Richard Wells (Robert De Niro), offering them the opportunity to clone their son, giving them the chance to start over.
The Duncans accept, but as Adam reaches his eighth birthday things begin to change and they begin to consider the horror of what they have done, and as they learn what exactly Adam is becoming.
Despite the fact this film does have its frights and chills, it never seems to materialize as believable, and that is not just because cloning is not common practice now days. It is more of the acceptance the Duncan’s have of the weird little child that is living in there house, and how they never really seem to think his actions are too far over the top. It would take a little more than a blank stare and an “I’m okay daddy,” from this demon child to ease my mind. This fact alone really seems to remove all merit from the film despite its creepy factor.
Director Nick Hamm and screenwriter Mark Bomback have their moments as they try to work in religious innuendos such as window frames, obviously shown in the shape of a cross, and the continuous reference to playing God. The attempts always seemed to be too obvious, which ruined the fact they actually seem to be going for ambiguity.
Considering this isn’t the most traditional time of year for a freaky flick, Godsend should enjoy a satisfactory opening weekend, but I don’t anticipate this one tickling the fancy of many moviegoers looking for a good fright.
